We are planning an international conference on muscle energetics involving scientists from the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The conference will be held at the University of Vermont from June 4-8, 1984. We anticipate 70 to 80 participants with approximately 40% of the scientists coming from outside the United States. The goals of the conference will be to: A) identify and examine important problems requiring solutions in muscle energetics, B) discuss interdisciplinary strategies for dealing with these problems, and C) relate new findings to other aspects of muscle contraction. Everyone actively involved in research on muscle energetics will have the opportunity to present results either orally or in a poster session at the meeting. The plan is to have nine sessions during the meeting. Seven sessions will consist of oral presentations on the following topics: energetics and cross-bridge cycling in skeletal muscle (2); mechanics and energetics of the heart; smooth muscle mechanics and energetics; energetic implications of the phosphorylation of contractile proteins; kinetics and energetics of simplified contractile systems; and nuclear magnetic resonance studies of contractile systems. One session will be devoted to discussion of posters. The last session will be a discussion of the crucial issues raised at the meeting with an emphasis on new directions in muscle energetics. Key U.S. and Foreign participants have been selected and all have already expressed an interest in the meeting. The conference will be publicized in Science, Nature and the J. of Muscle Research and Cell Motility. Summaries of the highlights of the meeting will be submitted for publication to these same journals. Also, abstract will be available without charge from the conference organizers. Partial support is requested to defray 67% of the expenses of key foreign participants (19) and of some of the key U.S. participants (4) who must travel long distances. The proposed meeting is the only one that we know of held within the last five years where such a broad group of scientists will gather to discuss energetic aspects of skeletal, heart and smooth muscle.